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An Arizona software engineer named after a Hall of Fame baseball pitcher has thrown the world a curve ball with a Facebook hoax that could be the most-shared item in the social media giant’s history.

Nolan Ryan Daniels, 35, of the Phoenix metro area claimed to be one of two winners of Wednesday’s record $588 million Powerball drawing. Thursday night, Daniels posted a doctored photo purporting to show a winning ticket, with the caption: “Looks like I won't be going to work EVER!!!! Share this photo and I will give a random person 1 million dollars!”

The photo, first reported by the Savannah Morning News, has been shared more than 2 million times. On Sunday, despite international headlines identifying it as a hoax, the photo continued to spread by more than 100 Facebook users a minute. About 1 in every 500 of Facebook’s 1 billion users worldwide has now shared the photo.

In more than 23,000 comments on Daniels’ post, users have called him everything from “a saint” to “a fraud.” Others have praised the astonishing reach of his viral scheme and suggested he get in touch with Facebook’s founder.

Facebook’s most shared item in 2011 -- a New York Times interactive on the Japanese earthquake and tsunami -- spread to 600,000 users, the company reported.

In an interview with the Savannah Morning News, Daniels’ brother, Derek, said he thinks Nolan Daniels authored the hoax simply for attention.

“I think he craves the love from people,” Derek Daniels said.

But the combined adoration and wrath of millions was likely far more than the prankster ever expected. Messages for comment to Nolan Daniels’ cellphone and personal email address have not been returned.

The odds of winning $1 million in Powerball, by matching five numbers without the Powerball, are 1 in 5,153,632, according to Powerball.com. The odds of winning Daniels’ drawing, if it were real, were 1 in 2,027,530 as of 4 p.m. Sunday.

Wednesday’s $588 million jackpot was split by a couple in Missouri and a person who has yet to officially come forward.

Mark and Cindy Hill of Dearborn, Mo., opted for a $192 million lump-sum payout Friday. Meanwhile, national news outlets published video apparently showing the other winner celebrating in a Maryland gas station. According to NBC News, he is an employee of the Department of Transportation who purchased his winning ticket while traveling in Arizona.